Tuesday, February 06, 2007
why i don't like "freedom writers"
ok, so i haven’t really seen the movie. and i’ve only browsed through the book. but i still don’t like the movie/book.
wanna know why?
it’s supposed to be inspirational. i think it’s so misleading.
see, the book/movie is about this teacher who threw herself into her work making these students realize what great writers they are and what great potential they have as people. she works insane hours - she runs a writing lab in the afternoon and into the night being there for the students. she basically makes them her life. they learn to be great writers. they publish a book. she inspires many people. yay.
thing is, she quits. yup. movies and books don’t show that. you can’t live a life like that year after year after year inspiring students throwing yourself 200% into your job and NOT expect to burn out. wanna know what she does now? she gets paid big bucks to speak at schools. to inspire the teachers. but all she does is talk about how she taught for a couple of years and all the teachers do is listen thinking “but you quit after a couple of years!” and she got paid around $60k for that one speaking engagement at the district i used to work at. waste of teacher money if you ask those teachers. they shoulda hired a good teacher for a year with that $60k. anyways....
i guess it leaves me wondering… is there a way i can be a fulfilled and inspiring teacher and NOT burn out? how do i do it? i really want to know!